1869.] On Fluctuations in the Temperature of the Human Body. 419 



May 13, 1869. 



Dr. WILLIAM ALLEN MILLER, Treasurer and Vice-President, 



in the Chair. 



In conformity with the Statutes, the names of the Candidates recom- 

 mended for election into the Society were read from the Chair, as follows : — 



Sir Samuel White Baker, M.A. 

 John J. Bigsby, M.D. 

 Charles Chambers, Esq. 

 William Esson, Esq., M.A. 

 George Carey Foster, B.A. 

 William W. Gull, M.D. 

 J. Norman Lockyer, Esq. 

 John Robinson M c Clean, Esq. 

 St. George Mivart, Esq. 



John Russell Reynolds, M.D. 

 Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Spencer 



Robinson, K.C.B. 

 Major James Francis Tennant, R.E. 

 Wyville Thomson, LL.D. 

 Col. Henry Edward LandorThuillier, 



R.A. 



Edward Walker, Esq., M.A. 



The following communications were read : — 



I. " On some of the minor Fluctuations in the Temperature of the 

 Human Body when at rest, and their Cause." By A. H. Garrod, 

 St. John's College, Cambridge. Communicated by Dr. Beale. 

 Received April 16, 1869. 



The author's object in the following communication is to show that the 

 minor fluctuations in the temperature of the human body, not including 

 those arising from movements of muscles, mainly result from alterations in 

 the amount of blood exposed at its surface to the influence of external ab- 

 sorbing and conducting media. 



In the following Tables, when not otherwise mentioned, all the tempe- 

 ratures are taken under the tongue, the thermometer remaining in the 

 mouth for five minutes, except when the observations were made each two- 

 and-a-half minutes, on which occasions the temperature of the bulb was not 

 allowed to fall below 85° F. 



It may be remarked that in no case mentioned below was the tempera- 

 ture of the air above 65° F., and that on all occasions the skin was dry, 

 whereby any complications from the presence of perceptible moisture were 

 avoided ; and the arguments based on the facts necessitate an approxima- 

 tion to those conditions. 



The Tables have been selected from a great number of observations ; and 

 no results have been obtained which are not easily explained on the theory 

 given. 



VOL. XVII. 2 I 



